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The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream
From the two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, bestselling historian, and author of Our First Civil War —the epic story of the California Gold Rush, “a fine, robust telling of one of the greatest adventure stories in history" (David McCullough, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of John Adams ).
The California Gold Rush inspired a new American dream—the “dream of instant wealth, won by audacity and good luck.” The discovery of gold on the American River in 1848 triggered the most astonishing mass movement of peoples since the Crusades. It drew fortune-seekers from the ends of the earth, accelerated America’s imperial expansion, and exacerbated the tensions that exploded in the Civil War.
H.W. Brands tells his epic story from multiple of adventurers John and Jessie Fremont, entrepreneur Leland Stanford, and the wry observer Samuel Clemens—side by side with prospectors, soldiers, and scoundrels. He imparts a visceral sense of the distances they traveled, the suffering they endured, and the fortunes they made and lost. Impressive in its scholarship and overflowing with life, The Age of Gold is history in the grand traditions of Stephen Ambrose and David McCullough.
The California Gold Rush inspired a new American dream—the “dream of instant wealth, won by audacity and good luck.” The discovery of gold on the American River in 1848 triggered the most astonishing mass movement of peoples since the Crusades. It drew fortune-seekers from the ends of the earth, accelerated America’s imperial expansion, and exacerbated the tensions that exploded in the Civil War.
H.W. Brands tells his epic story from multiple of adventurers John and Jessie Fremont, entrepreneur Leland Stanford, and the wry observer Samuel Clemens—side by side with prospectors, soldiers, and scoundrels. He imparts a visceral sense of the distances they traveled, the suffering they endured, and the fortunes they made and lost. Impressive in its scholarship and overflowing with life, The Age of Gold is history in the grand traditions of Stephen Ambrose and David McCullough.
592 pages, Paperback
First published August 20, 2002
262 people are currently reading
3623 people want to read
About the author
H.W. Brands
103 books1,174 followersH.W. Brands is an acclaimed American historian and author of over thirty books on U.S. history, including Pulitzer Prize finalists The First American and Traitor to His Class. He holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his PhD. Originally trained in mathematics, Brands turned to history as a way to pursue his passion for writing. His biographical works on figures like Franklin, Jackson, Grant, and both Roosevelts have earned critical and popular praise for their readability and depth. Raised in Oregon and educated at Stanford, Reed College, and Portland State, he began his teaching career in high schools before entering academia. He later taught at Texas A&M and Vanderbilt before returning to UT Austin. Brands challenges conventional reverence for the Founding Fathers, advocating for a more progressive and evolving view of American democracy. In addition to academic works, his commentary has featured in major documentaries. His books, published internationally and translated into multiple languages, examine U.S. political, economic, and cultural development with compelling narrative force. Beyond academia, he is a public intellectual contributing to national conversations on history and governance.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 169 reviews
August 14, 2025
The California Gold Rush sparked a heavy immigration of pioneers, adventure seekers, Forty-niners, explorers, and merchants—at the same time kindling the rebirth of the American Dream through the conquest of the West. Noted historian H.W. Brands brings the Gold Rush to the forefront, all the while bringing a history of the state of California to the reader’s attention with vivid character portraits of those who journeyed to the Golden State. Beginning with a fascinating account of the rarely discussed missionary Junipero Serra, the story continues with the establishment of trade and the steps leading to inevitable culture clashes from both natives and foreigners alike—for both religious and imperial reasonings.
The partners James Marshall and John Sutter’s discovery of gold near present day Sacramento leads to a landslide of fortune seekers, with Brands chronicling the backgrounds and early biographies on such would-be-famous characters as: William Tecumseh Sherman, Kit Carson, Leland Stanford, Samuel Clemens (not yet using his nom de plume Mark Twain) and George Hearst. The attention grabbing and awe-inspiring diaries of John and Jessie Frémont are what really stand out, as Brands turns their journal entries and letters into exciting and remarkable plot points that show the strengths and feats that humanity can both endure and be capable of:
“Manuel—you will remember Manuel, the Cosumne Indian—” Frémont wrote Jessie, “gave way to a feeling of despair after they had travelled about two miles, begged Haler to shoot him, and then turned and made his way back to the camp, intending to die there, as he doubtless soon did.” Ten miles from camp another man surrendered to fate, threw down his gun and blanket, and tumbled into a drift to die. Overnight a man went crazy from hunger, wandered off from the main group, and was never seen again. Another man died quietly the next day; a companion, snow-blind and himself at death’s door, stayed behind with him and soon succumbed also.
The whole book reads in the nature of a swashbuckling adventure tale—indeed, an epic full of miraculous, gripping narratives. Brands’ only fault perhaps can be that this isn’t necessarily new territory as these stories have all been told before, though in separate biographies for the most part. On that note, the reader will find a concise history that packs in countless stories and sources of those whom contributed to what was then commonly held as Manifest Destiny, though now appropriately referred to as Westward Expansion. It also serves as a reminder on how the lust for gold has captured the hearts of so many people, to the point where they would leave all that they know for a treacherous wagonload journey or ocean cruise, in the hopes of a better life—with odds that were truly stacked against them. Maps and over twenty illustrations are provided.
The partners James Marshall and John Sutter’s discovery of gold near present day Sacramento leads to a landslide of fortune seekers, with Brands chronicling the backgrounds and early biographies on such would-be-famous characters as: William Tecumseh Sherman, Kit Carson, Leland Stanford, Samuel Clemens (not yet using his nom de plume Mark Twain) and George Hearst. The attention grabbing and awe-inspiring diaries of John and Jessie Frémont are what really stand out, as Brands turns their journal entries and letters into exciting and remarkable plot points that show the strengths and feats that humanity can both endure and be capable of:
“Manuel—you will remember Manuel, the Cosumne Indian—” Frémont wrote Jessie, “gave way to a feeling of despair after they had travelled about two miles, begged Haler to shoot him, and then turned and made his way back to the camp, intending to die there, as he doubtless soon did.” Ten miles from camp another man surrendered to fate, threw down his gun and blanket, and tumbled into a drift to die. Overnight a man went crazy from hunger, wandered off from the main group, and was never seen again. Another man died quietly the next day; a companion, snow-blind and himself at death’s door, stayed behind with him and soon succumbed also.
The whole book reads in the nature of a swashbuckling adventure tale—indeed, an epic full of miraculous, gripping narratives. Brands’ only fault perhaps can be that this isn’t necessarily new territory as these stories have all been told before, though in separate biographies for the most part. On that note, the reader will find a concise history that packs in countless stories and sources of those whom contributed to what was then commonly held as Manifest Destiny, though now appropriately referred to as Westward Expansion. It also serves as a reminder on how the lust for gold has captured the hearts of so many people, to the point where they would leave all that they know for a treacherous wagonload journey or ocean cruise, in the hopes of a better life—with odds that were truly stacked against them. Maps and over twenty illustrations are provided.
September 17, 2012
The first half of this book is fascinating and really enables you to understand the enormous courage that was needed by those first explorers.
Unfortunately the second half then just becomes a list of political wrangling, moves and countermoves.
Had this book continued along the human interest theme I would have rated it much higher.
Read the first half and forget the second.
Unfortunately the second half then just becomes a list of political wrangling, moves and countermoves.
Had this book continued along the human interest theme I would have rated it much higher.
Read the first half and forget the second.
March 8, 2016
The Age of Gold is about the Gold discovery and the aftermath of it but it also is a history of the state of California. California was seeded to the United States after the United States victory in the Mexican American War in 1848. Fortune immediately went to America when James Marshall, who operated a lumber mill, discovered gold dust in his vicinity in Coloma California.
Up until 1848 California contained few white people. It was inhabited by mostly Mexican and Native Indian populations. Most Americans do not want to travel to California because at the time it was a dangerous and painful experience to cross the Snowy Mountains in Colorado and the deserts in Utah. They could have encountered hostile Indians, disease, food and water shortages as well.
When news of Gold in California hit the east coast and the rest of the world a renewed interest in going to California happened. Foreigners from France, England, South America, Australia, China and many east coast Americans rushed to California attempting to strike it rich finding gold.
One such person was John Fremont, he was one who took a team through the heart of the country barely surviving the travel when he finally arrived in California. He wrote of this adventure and became a popular person of the time. So popular in fact that he was California’s first Governor. He was also the first Republican Party nominee in the Republican Party’s history for President in 1854.
Most people, including his wife, took a steamship down the Atlantic Ocean to Panama. At Panama, they boarded another ship that took them up the Pacific Ocean to California. This trip was not pleasant as well. Often the ships from the Pacific coast would not show up to pick up the passengers because crews abandoned the ships in California to seek gold. That left scores of people in Panama where malaria and other diseases ran rampart and drove up the cost of the trip.
The author follows a few characters throughout the book and introduces a lot of famous people of the 1850s such as Brigham Young, Mark Twain, and William Tecumseh Sherman who had some kind of connection to Gold pursuit or California.
HE also explains the audacious attempt of James Gould and Jim Fisk to control the world by attempting to buy up all the available Gold.
It appears from reading this book that few people truly produced wealth from Gold mining and many people failed.
I am only giving the book 3 stars because I did not follow it as I would have liked to have. It is full of information though, it is good in that way.
Up until 1848 California contained few white people. It was inhabited by mostly Mexican and Native Indian populations. Most Americans do not want to travel to California because at the time it was a dangerous and painful experience to cross the Snowy Mountains in Colorado and the deserts in Utah. They could have encountered hostile Indians, disease, food and water shortages as well.
When news of Gold in California hit the east coast and the rest of the world a renewed interest in going to California happened. Foreigners from France, England, South America, Australia, China and many east coast Americans rushed to California attempting to strike it rich finding gold.
One such person was John Fremont, he was one who took a team through the heart of the country barely surviving the travel when he finally arrived in California. He wrote of this adventure and became a popular person of the time. So popular in fact that he was California’s first Governor. He was also the first Republican Party nominee in the Republican Party’s history for President in 1854.
Most people, including his wife, took a steamship down the Atlantic Ocean to Panama. At Panama, they boarded another ship that took them up the Pacific Ocean to California. This trip was not pleasant as well. Often the ships from the Pacific coast would not show up to pick up the passengers because crews abandoned the ships in California to seek gold. That left scores of people in Panama where malaria and other diseases ran rampart and drove up the cost of the trip.
The author follows a few characters throughout the book and introduces a lot of famous people of the 1850s such as Brigham Young, Mark Twain, and William Tecumseh Sherman who had some kind of connection to Gold pursuit or California.
HE also explains the audacious attempt of James Gould and Jim Fisk to control the world by attempting to buy up all the available Gold.
It appears from reading this book that few people truly produced wealth from Gold mining and many people failed.
I am only giving the book 3 stars because I did not follow it as I would have liked to have. It is full of information though, it is good in that way.
June 24, 2017
The Age of Gold is an enjoyable read on the Gold Rush in California and its national and global effects, told through the diaries, anecdotes, and legends of various individuals involved. Academics and casual readers alike will enjoy this book, which is remarkably engaging both in substance and style.
The book begins at Sutter's Fort and Sutter's Mill, the latter being the site at which the first gold was discovered. Brands begins the setting in a narrative style, complete with picturesque scene-setting, and dialogue and commentary from the journals of Sutter's men. Some dark humor is peppered in--apparently Sutter was upset that the Donner Party ate some of his best mules and Indians.
We see various legends behind the scenes, like John "the Pathfinder" Fremont; outlaws like Charles Cora and Joaquin Murietta (apparently an inspiration for Zorro); and Archy Lee, a slave in a court battle for his freedom. Each has an engaging story to tell, both in the individual sense and in the context of the national political scene.
And if you've ever wondered where San Francisco--where much of the action takes place--got its street names, you're likely to get most of your answers here, with such name drops as businessman Henry Haight, Sheriff Geary, Mayor Van Ness, and American statesmen Henry Clay, John Calhoun, James Polk, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan. And, of course, Sutter and Fremont.
Surprisingly, Adolph Sutro is not mentioned, perhaps because he was involved in San Francisco at a later time. But the Comstock Lode, from which Sutro became wealthy, features prominently toward the end. And there is a visit to later times in the conclusion, with the founding of Stanford University and one of its earliest students, Herbert Hoover. The story finishes with a discussion of Silicon Valley and the "Silicon Rush," which occurred in much the same spirit of wealth and opportunity.
Overall an enjoyable, engaging, and informative read about the California Gold Rush. If you're interested in the Gold Rush, you're in for an interesting and rewarding read.
The book begins at Sutter's Fort and Sutter's Mill, the latter being the site at which the first gold was discovered. Brands begins the setting in a narrative style, complete with picturesque scene-setting, and dialogue and commentary from the journals of Sutter's men. Some dark humor is peppered in--apparently Sutter was upset that the Donner Party ate some of his best mules and Indians.
We see various legends behind the scenes, like John "the Pathfinder" Fremont; outlaws like Charles Cora and Joaquin Murietta (apparently an inspiration for Zorro); and Archy Lee, a slave in a court battle for his freedom. Each has an engaging story to tell, both in the individual sense and in the context of the national political scene.
And if you've ever wondered where San Francisco--where much of the action takes place--got its street names, you're likely to get most of your answers here, with such name drops as businessman Henry Haight, Sheriff Geary, Mayor Van Ness, and American statesmen Henry Clay, John Calhoun, James Polk, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan. And, of course, Sutter and Fremont.
Surprisingly, Adolph Sutro is not mentioned, perhaps because he was involved in San Francisco at a later time. But the Comstock Lode, from which Sutro became wealthy, features prominently toward the end. And there is a visit to later times in the conclusion, with the founding of Stanford University and one of its earliest students, Herbert Hoover. The story finishes with a discussion of Silicon Valley and the "Silicon Rush," which occurred in much the same spirit of wealth and opportunity.
Overall an enjoyable, engaging, and informative read about the California Gold Rush. If you're interested in the Gold Rush, you're in for an interesting and rewarding read.
June 11, 2014
I really enjoyed this book. It deals with the California Gold Rush, but it is much more than that. It ties the gold rush into American and world history, the events that were happening at the time, and how the discovery of gold in California had an impact on these events. One of these events discussed in the book was the building of the transcontinental railroad, which in itself is a fascinating story. I highly recommend this book as well as "Nothing Like it in the World: The Men Who Build the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869."
March 31, 2023
Really good!
March 12, 2024
I have to be honest and say that I did not read all of this book - I didn't enjoy what I read but, to be fair, I can't really determine if this is a good or bad book on the subject - in fact I am always disappointed with the books I have tried to read on anything to do with America's expansion into the West of the continent in the 19th century. I am not saying that there aren't goods books only that I haven't found the well written history for a non academic which can tell the tale in way for a non American to enjoy. There is way to much bombast, and either to much detail, or to little explanation, or to many generalities - I can say the same for this book - I do not pretend that my response is in anything but a reflection of my personal feelings. I just didn't like or enjoy this book
July 26, 2018
A good book. There were several interesting stories here that I hadn't heard before, although I'd argue the text does skimp a bit on the lives of native people who were affected by these events.
Where the narrative hews closely to individual stories of struggle, triumph, and loss the book is very engaging. When the discussion wanders through the political machinations of gaining statehood or the boardroom sniping of railroad companies I got a little bored.
In all though, The Age of Gold is a good book for a primer for people who are new to this era of California's history.
Where the narrative hews closely to individual stories of struggle, triumph, and loss the book is very engaging. When the discussion wanders through the political machinations of gaining statehood or the boardroom sniping of railroad companies I got a little bored.
In all though, The Age of Gold is a good book for a primer for people who are new to this era of California's history.
November 11, 2022
Finishing “The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream” is goated when learning about the roots of American individualist derangement is the vibe.
May 31, 2025
Review title: At the room where it happened
On our Lincoln Highway road trip from Pennsylvania to San Francisco in April 2025, my wife and I took a short side trip to Sutters Fort State Historical Park where James Marshall found the gold that ignited the Gold Rush. I bought my copy of Brands's history in the visitor center there at the room where it happened.
After a brief prologue where he describes the mundane yet momentous events of that fateful day and its surrounding weeks (including the poignant story of the Mormon cabin we saw there at the Fort), Brand telescopes out to tell the history of The Age of Gold in four broad phases:
As California emerged from the Gold Rush as a functioning society, the impetus of all these events along with the great wealth in gold and the realization that California was a vast region and inviting climate spurred discussion and finally private and government investment to build the first transcontinental railroad. While the discussion of routes and funding got caught up in the slavery fight and helped drive the wedge between North and South ever deeper, construction was approve and started during the Civil War. The Age of Gold had arrived.
In fact, as Brand summarizes its impact, by the end of the Gold Rush era (1869, with the completion of the transcontinental railroad, being a significant milestone to mark the event):
In fact, as Brand illustrates by one of the gold-seeking "argonauts" (his term for the 49ers) who came from Australia then returned and ignited that countries own history-making gold Rush (see Gold!: The Fever that Forever Changed Australia , a book I bought and read while working from Melbourne), the dream of gold and its impact was worldwide and lasting.
Brand writes very readable narrative history with documented references (a mixture of primary and secondary sources) and his published catalog is broad. In fact, I realized as I wrote this review I had read this book back in 2002 when it was just published and only rated it three stars, finding it too broad and "episodic." Maybe 20-plus years of living and the opportunity to travel to many of the places touched by the Age of Gold have deepened my appreciation for a broad brush, or softened my critical eye. I certainly had no memory of that first reading (which was a library book), perhaps lending some credence to my first assessment.
My original review:
Mild disappointment. Too episodic and written just north of the level of a USA Today article. I think the author intends the narrative episodes to illustrate valid historic points, but he doesn't really tie the narrative and the theses together explicitly, and he isn't a good enough writer to make them flow together implicitly.
His key premise appears to be "The California Gold Rush was really important. Here are some examples." And the examples are often interesting and amusing, but not enough on which to hang a story which has no point.
On our Lincoln Highway road trip from Pennsylvania to San Francisco in April 2025, my wife and I took a short side trip to Sutters Fort State Historical Park where James Marshall found the gold that ignited the Gold Rush. I bought my copy of Brands's history in the visitor center there at the room where it happened.
After a brief prologue where he describes the mundane yet momentous events of that fateful day and its surrounding weeks (including the poignant story of the Mormon cabin we saw there at the Fort), Brand telescopes out to tell the history of The Age of Gold in four broad phases:
The hard and sometimes horrifying journeys to reach northern California over land, around Cape Horn, and across the isthmus of Panama, with no time to spare because time was literally money if others beat you to the spot.
The chaotic scramble to stake a claim, dig, pan, slice, or mine for gold amongst a polyglot of hundreds of thousands of fortune seekers from across continents and oceans, all too focused on fortune to pay attention to anything else in the short term.
The slowly accelerating attempt to settle the chaos as San Francisco, Sacramento, and finally the state of California transitioned from chaos to more or less permanent communities and began to pay attention to those other things like housing, law enforcement, public safety (frequent fires wiped out towns big and small), and government.
The impact of the Gold Rush on the political, economic, and social turmoil of slavery in antebellum America, as California rapidly bypassed the territorial phase of incoming statehood and submitted a free-state constitution to a Congress bitterly torn between secession and compromise to hold the Union together.
As California emerged from the Gold Rush as a functioning society, the impetus of all these events along with the great wealth in gold and the realization that California was a vast region and inviting climate spurred discussion and finally private and government investment to build the first transcontinental railroad. While the discussion of routes and funding got caught up in the slavery fight and helped drive the wedge between North and South ever deeper, construction was approve and started during the Civil War. The Age of Gold had arrived.
In fact, as Brand summarizes its impact, by the end of the Gold Rush era (1869, with the completion of the transcontinental railroad, being a significant milestone to mark the event):
California, in short, was becoming more like the rest of America. Yet something else was happening, something of deeper significance: America was becoming more like California. The change commenced the moment the golden news from Coloma reached the East and the visions of the yellow metal littering the ground set imaginations aflame.
In that moment a new American dream began to take shape. The old American dream, the dream inherited from ten generations of ancestors, was the dream of the Puritans, of Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard, of Thomas Jefferson's yeoman farmers: of men and women content to accumulate their modest fortunes a little at a time, year by year by year. The new dream was the dream of instant wealth, won in a twinkling by audacity and good luck. (p. 442)
In fact, as Brand illustrates by one of the gold-seeking "argonauts" (his term for the 49ers) who came from Australia then returned and ignited that countries own history-making gold Rush (see Gold!: The Fever that Forever Changed Australia , a book I bought and read while working from Melbourne), the dream of gold and its impact was worldwide and lasting.
Brand writes very readable narrative history with documented references (a mixture of primary and secondary sources) and his published catalog is broad. In fact, I realized as I wrote this review I had read this book back in 2002 when it was just published and only rated it three stars, finding it too broad and "episodic." Maybe 20-plus years of living and the opportunity to travel to many of the places touched by the Age of Gold have deepened my appreciation for a broad brush, or softened my critical eye. I certainly had no memory of that first reading (which was a library book), perhaps lending some credence to my first assessment.
My original review:
Mild disappointment. Too episodic and written just north of the level of a USA Today article. I think the author intends the narrative episodes to illustrate valid historic points, but he doesn't really tie the narrative and the theses together explicitly, and he isn't a good enough writer to make them flow together implicitly.
His key premise appears to be "The California Gold Rush was really important. Here are some examples." And the examples are often interesting and amusing, but not enough on which to hang a story which has no point.
Read
February 14, 2014Brands was a finalist for the Pulitzer for his book on Abraham Lincoln. This book follows in the same line with incredible anecdotes of adventurers making their way to California from France, Australia, Mexico, etc. Brands weaves all these amazing stories while keeping your interest about how CA shaped the industry we know today, as well as pushed our country into the Civil War circuitously. This book is riveting, and packed with details. From Leland Stanford and the railroad monopoly, the well known Black Friday, and the humble beginnings of fledgling California in 1846, when there was a mere 200-300 people living in the state, Brands weaves all this (and more) into an epic so complex, you can't stop reading.
March 16, 2016
I like to read books about the places I visit. That’s why I picked The Age of Gold. It came highly recommended and it did not disappoint.
Gold is found during the building of Sutter’s Mill in California. People began to flood into California, risking death, willing to sacrifice everything for a chance to get rich.
Brands hones in on his characters---Sutter, young men headed to California from all parts, Stanford, Hearst---until the book feels more like a novel than a history book.
I’m looking forward to seeing the places mentioned in the book. I feel like I just completed a short course in California history by reading this book.
Gold is found during the building of Sutter’s Mill in California. People began to flood into California, risking death, willing to sacrifice everything for a chance to get rich.
Brands hones in on his characters---Sutter, young men headed to California from all parts, Stanford, Hearst---until the book feels more like a novel than a history book.
I’m looking forward to seeing the places mentioned in the book. I feel like I just completed a short course in California history by reading this book.
September 9, 2017
This. Was. Great! Brands has a way of making the most minute details immediate and salient. His use of seemingly small individual stories to illustrate some of the biggest events in American history create connections that vividly illustrate the history of the Gold Rush, of California, of the Mormons, of the transcontinental railroad, of the American banking system, and of so much more, while also hooking the reader on a deeply emotional level. Like after finishing a great novel, I find myself bereft, having to leave all these characters, and this time, and this place.
July 28, 2014
Well written and documented. The author has tied in many quotes from personal journals of people who witnessed or participated in the events described. The scope of the book goes well beyond the title subject to present a complete picture of the impact of the discovery well beyond California and the U.S.
June 10, 2018
Well documented and engaging story of the gold rush era in the California region.
The beginning, the voyages of the gold seekers to California, was the most exciting part for me. I enjoyed reading about the early pioneers background and their history, California’s population international mix and their social status in society, the evolution of the gold extraction methods, the birth the large cities (e.g. San Francisco and Sacramento), their growth and business development overtime, the Pacific railroad project etc. Less interesting for me were the commentaries about regional and national politics (e.g. Frémont’s presidential campaign of 1856 and the Civic War), however given Bands expertise in history of US politics and his background as presidential biographer this was probably to be expected.
The book felt very long however due to the author’s tendency to be sidetracked from the gold rush topic. Departure from the main subject is a common trend that I have noticed among recent non-fiction books and one that I do not appreciate. I feel that these tangents spent on marginally relevant topics are unnecessary fillers and wish the author would return to the subject of the book.
I personally would have preferred that Brands would not have digressed so frequently. A more compact book (with succinct historical and political background chapters) would have held my attention longer and, as a consequence, I would have rated the book higher. 2.5 stars
The beginning, the voyages of the gold seekers to California, was the most exciting part for me. I enjoyed reading about the early pioneers background and their history, California’s population international mix and their social status in society, the evolution of the gold extraction methods, the birth the large cities (e.g. San Francisco and Sacramento), their growth and business development overtime, the Pacific railroad project etc. Less interesting for me were the commentaries about regional and national politics (e.g. Frémont’s presidential campaign of 1856 and the Civic War), however given Bands expertise in history of US politics and his background as presidential biographer this was probably to be expected.
The book felt very long however due to the author’s tendency to be sidetracked from the gold rush topic. Departure from the main subject is a common trend that I have noticed among recent non-fiction books and one that I do not appreciate. I feel that these tangents spent on marginally relevant topics are unnecessary fillers and wish the author would return to the subject of the book.
I personally would have preferred that Brands would not have digressed so frequently. A more compact book (with succinct historical and political background chapters) would have held my attention longer and, as a consequence, I would have rated the book higher. 2.5 stars
March 9, 2022
Riveting! The Age of Gold takes you from the beginning of the Gold Rush, when James Marshall discovered gold in John Sutter’s Mill, to the building of the transcontinental railroad. In-between there are a host of historical figures and fascinating stories. With the ease of a great storyteller, Brands seamlessly leads you from the rough and tumble beginnings of San Francisco and the vigilante justice that defined it, the dangers of the voyage to California, via the cholera plagued Isthmus of Panama, to the California Trail and the incredible stories of survival that defined it. Among the stories he told, most memorable for me were the men trying to canoe to California (*spoiler alert* it didn't work out), how Death Valley got its name, and the experience of Sarah Royce, whose life on the trail was so intriguing that I just ordered her book, "A Frontier Lady: Recollections of the Gold Rush and Early California."
I learned about men from the East who were fleeing lackluster businesses, boredom, and sometimes, their wives. There are stories of those who sailed from China, Chile, and Australia. Brands follows the lives of prominent figures in California history, including John and Jessie Frémont, Mark Twain, Sherman, Sam Brannan, and Mariano Vallejo.
My favorite part of this book was the description the colorful group of delegates who assembled on their own for a constitutional convention because Congress had failed to organize a new territorial government. This group of men came from drastically different backgrounds, but they crafted their own constitution and set the boundaries of their state before California was even recognized as a state!
I found The Age of Gold so interesting that I’m sad it’s not longer – something I’ve never said of any history book. This is a must read for anyone who lives in California and wants to learn more about California history.
I learned about men from the East who were fleeing lackluster businesses, boredom, and sometimes, their wives. There are stories of those who sailed from China, Chile, and Australia. Brands follows the lives of prominent figures in California history, including John and Jessie Frémont, Mark Twain, Sherman, Sam Brannan, and Mariano Vallejo.
My favorite part of this book was the description the colorful group of delegates who assembled on their own for a constitutional convention because Congress had failed to organize a new territorial government. This group of men came from drastically different backgrounds, but they crafted their own constitution and set the boundaries of their state before California was even recognized as a state!
I found The Age of Gold so interesting that I’m sad it’s not longer – something I’ve never said of any history book. This is a must read for anyone who lives in California and wants to learn more about California history.
October 18, 2024
Not many complex thoughts about this but comprehensive primer on California gold rush
July 31, 2025
Extensive, involved history of California before/at/around/after its gold rush era. Can be very interesting at times, but also dense at others
Read
November 1, 2018This is a great book! It really delves into the early history of the Gold Rush as well as the popular culture aspects of it. I was impressed by the merchants perspective, which is not one that is well represented in most histories of the gold rush.
Read
January 29, 2025“The Gold Rush shaped history so profoundly because it harnessed the most basic human desires, the desire for happiness.”, p. 490
June 24, 2013
It's no exaggeration to say that California was created by gold. No doubt there'd have been a state there anyway - the concept of Manifest Destiny ensured that Americans were always going to spread out across the continent - but the discovery of gold in 1848 accelerated the process and made for a way of life and an atmosphere quite unlike America up to that point. In pre-Gold Rush America the cardinal virtues were patience and hard work, rural, agrarian and slow - Jefferson's gentleman farmers. The Gold Rush ushered in the era of the quick buck, the sudden fortune, the wealth that could be gambled for, won and lost in the space of a week.
This is a wonderful book, well-written and pacy, and it covers far more than just the lives and wealth of the men and women - Americans and immigrants alike - who rushed to California to strike it lucky. It explores how the Gold Rush impacted the rest of the country, the role of California in upsetting the precarious balance between slave and free states that resulted in the Civil War, the way the ripples of gold spread out to affect the rest of the world, most particularly in the concept of the gold standard and free trade.
Whilst I might have liked a bit more about the day-to-day lives of the miners, more about life in the new city of San Francisco or in the mining camps themselves, for a broad-ranging, comprehensive overview of the Gold Rush and its place in California and America's history, the book can't be bettered.
This is a wonderful book, well-written and pacy, and it covers far more than just the lives and wealth of the men and women - Americans and immigrants alike - who rushed to California to strike it lucky. It explores how the Gold Rush impacted the rest of the country, the role of California in upsetting the precarious balance between slave and free states that resulted in the Civil War, the way the ripples of gold spread out to affect the rest of the world, most particularly in the concept of the gold standard and free trade.
Whilst I might have liked a bit more about the day-to-day lives of the miners, more about life in the new city of San Francisco or in the mining camps themselves, for a broad-ranging, comprehensive overview of the Gold Rush and its place in California and America's history, the book can't be bettered.
October 22, 2009
This is a great book, full of 'nickel knowledge'. Great telling of how the discovery of gold in California changed not only the U.S., but the whole world. We see how San Francisco developed; how much serendipity is almost the equal of hard work and effort; how people who bluff their way through and succeed, or bluff their way and run smack into the brick wall. We see the famous (Fremont) and the obscure.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
July 4, 2009
Brands is such a terrific storyteller.
What I really liked about this book is how it takes an event like the discovery of Gold in California at Sutter's Mill and shows how it influenced major aspects of American history like the Transcontinental Railroad, expansion of the U.S., Compromise of 1850, Civil War, Gold Standard and even the American spirit.
But the heart of the book is its people and stories and in that regard, this book excels.
What I really liked about this book is how it takes an event like the discovery of Gold in California at Sutter's Mill and shows how it influenced major aspects of American history like the Transcontinental Railroad, expansion of the U.S., Compromise of 1850, Civil War, Gold Standard and even the American spirit.
But the heart of the book is its people and stories and in that regard, this book excels.
December 23, 2009
I was surprised by this book. It was much broader than I expected. Brands shows the ripple effect the gold rush had throughout American culture and the world. The reader learns what it was like to travel from different parts of the world and the country to get to California. He shows how the gold rush changed American culture because of its "instant wealth" mentality. He discusses the rise of the railroads in relationship to the rush.
January 16, 2014
A highly readable account of the California Gold Rush. The book discusses several of the key personalities of the era (walking through San Francisco, I can now match a street name to a historical figure). It also goes into the struggles of several families--both the journey and their lives in the mines. Though a 500 page book, it was a fast read. I enjoyed his writing style.
March 20, 2007
Pretty good history of the California gold rush. Brands is known as the guy that did the excellent Benjamin Franklin biography.
The book uses correspondences from 49ers and other to piece together a delightful history that reads like a narrative.
The book uses correspondences from 49ers and other to piece together a delightful history that reads like a narrative.
January 7, 2010
This book really ties in the effect events in California had in the creation of our nation as we know it. Very unlikely the North wins the war without this Gold Rush. Great read for non-fiction fans!
August 1, 2012
A very informative book that everyone should read. Deals not just with gold, but also with the stock market craze and how we are all looking to get rich quick - even the family of the President of the US!!
December 7, 2012
Very good history of gold and its role in the early days of California. Follows how gold impacts dozens of individuals lives.
December 24, 2012
Brands includes exquisitely detailed physical descriptions of key characters. I especially appreciate his ability to tell a story as well as document history.
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